SUMMARY When kate is ran, it checks if SUDO_USER is empty, and if it is not, kate exits with a message stating due to security concerns running as sudo is disabled. However, one can continue to run kate as sudo very easily. STEPS TO REPRODUCE 1. sudo bash -c "unset SUDO_USER && kate" OBSERVED RESULT It runs under sudo EXPECTED RESULT It would exit without running under sudo ADDITIONAL INFORMATION I am marking it as critical initially because I am unsure of the security implications of running under sudo in this way and whether the security concerns are mitigated via this special procedure or if the security concerns are still present.
This message and error handling is only to avoid accidental use as root. If you actively workaround by resetting the env var, it will not work. I don't see an issue with that, most other X11 applications don't warn at all and let it be the users responsibility to don't run them as root.